Donald Trump has deployed three US warships to the waters off Venezuela to intercept drug cartel deliveries.

Three Aegis guided-missile destroyers are expected to be deployed to the region as part of the US president’s effort to combat the drug gangs.

The USS Gravely, the USS Jason Dunham and the USS Sampson are planned to be sent “over the course of several months”, according to a department of defence official.

The move to assign navy assets to anti-narcotics missions comes as tensions between Mr Trump and Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president, continue to sour.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration offered a $50m reward for Mr Maduro’s arrest after accusing him of being one of the world’s largest narco-traffickers and working with cartels to flood the US with fentanyl-laced cocaine.